Securities Times reporter Yan Jingying

During the 11th holiday season, another foreign-funded institution intended to break into the domestic securities industry.

Recently, according to information on the CSRC website, Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) submitted the application for the establishment of a securities company and received it by the Securities Regulatory Commission. If the application for the establishment of a new securities company comes to fruition as scheduled, Standard Chartered Bank's business in China will be boosted.

Furthermore, on the eve of the 11th long holiday, Qingdao Yicai Securities officially joined the license application team. The foreign shareholder is Allied Bank of San Paolo, Italy's largest bank.

Standard Chartered seeks brokerage license

For people in the domestic banking community, Standard Chartered Bank is no stranger. According to public information, Standard Chartered Bank is headquartered in London, England, and its business network covers 59 markets around the world. As early as 1858, Standard Chartered Bank established its first branch in Shanghai.

In March 2007, Standard Chartered Bank (China) and four foreign banks, HSBC, East Asia, and Citibank, became the first batch of locally registered corporate banks, taking the lead in officially launching full RMB business in China. Currently, Standard Chartered's branches in China cover nearly 30 coastal and inland cities, making it one of the most licensed banks among foreign banks.

At a time when business in China is in full swing, Standard Chartered also has a layout in the securities fund business for a long time. In July 2013, Standard Chartered launched the domestic fund consignment business. In October 2018, the Securities Regulatory Commission approved the custodian status of Standard Chartered Bank (China) securities investment funds. If the application for the establishment of a new securities company can be implemented as scheduled, Standard Chartered Bank's business in China will be boosted.

It is worth mentioning that in July of this year, Standard Chartered Bank announced that it would spend 40 million US dollars in Tianhe District of Guangzhou to establish the Standard Chartered Bank Greater Bay Area Center. Since the list of new shareholders is currently unclear, it remains to be seen where this brand-new brokerage firm is registered.

Foreign-owned brokerage firms have been launched one after another

When will major state-owned banks be able to obtain securities licenses? This topic, which once attracted the attention of the industry, has gone silent. However, foreign banks' “thoughts” about domestic securities licenses have recently set off another small climax.

In addition to Standard Chartered seeking a securities license this time, Qingdao Yicai Securities officially joined the license application team before the 11th long holiday. Although the shareholder that submitted the materials is Qingdao Guoxin Group, a subsidiary of Qingdao, judging from the name of the company, the foreign shareholder of Yicai Securities should be the Italian Joint Bank of San Paolo, which is also expected to be a foreign-controlled brokerage firm.

Looking back at 2003 to 2012, China's securities industry successively launched more than 10 joint venture brokerage firms, but most of them faced a “soil and water disagreement” situation. After the implementation of the “Administrative Measures on Foreign-Invested Securities Companies” in 2018, the popularity of foreign investment development in the Chinese securities market recovered, and foreign-owned brokerage firms were launched one after another.

Looking at the inventory, in December 2018, UBS took the lead in completing the share acquisition of UBS Securities, becoming the first foreign-owned brokerage firm in the industry. Since then, four new foreign-owned brokerage firms have been established one after another: J.P. Morgan Securities (China), Nomura Orient International Securities, Daiwa Securities (China), and DBS Securities (China). Three joint venture brokerage firms, Goldman Sachs Gaohua Securities, Morgan Stanley Huaxin Securities, and Credit Suisse Fangzheng Securities, were also successively “approved” to become foreign-owned brokerage firms.

In response, the Chuancai Securities Research Report said that the addition of foreign brokerage firms may increase competition in the short term, and small and medium-sized brokerage firms will face greater competitive pressure, but on the other hand, it will also push the optimization and adjustment of the industry structure and go further and further along the path of specialization.